Topic: Cannabis Investing

Cannabis in the news October 3, 2018

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1. Pot smokers in Ontario will soon be able to light up in public—wherever cigarette smoking is legal.

The province’s attorney general made the announcement last week, looking ahead to Oct. 17 when recreational pot use becomes legal. The policy change loosens rules established by the previous government that would have limited marijuana smoking to private residences.

Premier Doug Ford’s government has also decided against putting a cap on the number of marijuana sellers licensed in the province. That represents another policy change from the previous government. It would have limited online and in-store sales to government-run outlets.


2. US. demand for cannabis-infused drinks, along with other “edibles,” will create a $600 million market within four years, according to a new report.

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity says consumer appetite for those value-added marijuana products could equal 20% of the legal pot market by 2022. They currently make up about 6%, says Canaccord’s Bobby Burleson.

Alcohol beverage makers partnered with pot producers will likely fuel much of that growth. Industry giants Molson Coors and Constellation Brands have already announced joint ventures focused on developing their own labels. Diageo and Coca-Cola are also looking at opportunities.

Both soft drink and alcohol makers are struggling with stagnant sales. Legalization in Canada and key U.S. states threatens to further erode consumer demand for their traditional products.


3. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has now cleared the way for full-legalization of the first marijuana-derived drug.

Epidiolex is used to treat epilepsy and was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June. It contains cannabidiol, or CBD. That molecule is derived from the marijuana plant.

The FDA’s move forced the DEA to rethink its own classification of Epidiolex—if only Epidiolex.  The agency will continue to maintain marijuana as a schedule 1 drug. That characterizes cannabis as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.


4. Travellers catching a plane at one of the U.S.’s busiest airports are now allowed to carry pot packed in with the rest of their belongings.

“In accordance with Proposition 64, the Los Angeles Airport Police Department will allow passengers to travel through the airport with up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and eight grams of concentrated marijuana,” reads a statement from the airport authority.

While the federal government still considers marijuana illegal, California and eight other states have legalized the sale and recreational use of the drug.

The airport’s policy change means police will no longer stop or arrest travellers if a search of their bags yields cannabis. Still, the federally controlled Transportation Security Administration reserves the right to prevent people from boarding flights if its officers find marijuana in their carry-on luggage. The weed will not, however, be seized if it falls within California-set limits.


5. A senior lawyer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is drawing comparisons between cannabis stocks and cryptocurrencies.

“The fraud we’re seeing in that space [crypto] tracks the fraud we’re seeing in any others,” Owen Donley III, chief counsel of the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, said at a recent Yahoo Finance roundtable discussion.  “And, of course, that’s going to be with any industry, including marijuana. The fact that those two things are linked shouldn’t be surprising.”

The comments follow the September market volatility for many cannabis stocks.  Their wild price swings mirror the roller coast ride for cryptocurrency investors earlier this year.

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